Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b sequence analysis has confirmed the split out of Pterodroma and places the genus closer to shearwaters.

Non-breeding birds range more widely, but in general they are rarely met with in the Northern Hemisphere or outside tropical regions.

Both the former species have been seen very seldom since their discovery by science, although the Mascarene petrel is encountered on Réunion island as a result of light-induced fallout.

One species of Pseudobulweria has gone extinct in recent history; it has been described from subfossil remains found on Saint Helena.

[2][4] The genus Pseudobulweria was introduced in 1936 by the Australian born ornithologist Gregory Mathews with the Fiji petrel as the type species.